


Smart and Brave and Selfless

by AvocadoLove



Category: Captain America (Movies), Divergent (Movies), Divergent Series - Veronica Roth, Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Angst, Divergent Fusion, Factions, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, M/M, Sixteen-year-olds choosing their lifelong homes overnight, SteveTonyFest, Tony Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-26
Updated: 2014-06-26
Packaged: 2018-02-06 09:17:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1852696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvocadoLove/pseuds/AvocadoLove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Faction Choosing Ceremony is tomorrow, and Tony knows where he tested for, but he only wants to be by Steve's side. The problem is, Steve isn't selfish enough to tell him where he placed.  (Divergent AU)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Smart and Brave and Selfless

**Author's Note:**

> This is my SteveTonyFest (STAC) giftfic for poor Andiyangi, who asked for fluffy AU. I kinda suck at both, so... Divergent fusion! :D
> 
> (To keep with the theme of fluff, let’s say this takes place somewhere in the several hundred year period where the factions actually worked, and weren't corrupted — i.e. before Tris’ time).
> 
> To everyone else: You don’t have to have read or watched Divergent to understand this. Just substitute ‘Hogwarts House’ for ‘Faction’ and you’ve got the idea.

 

As soon as the simulation is over, Tony opens his eyes and says, “Give me another chance.”

The test administrator, a bland man in Abnegation gray (but to be honest, they’re all bland. That’s sort of a Stiff thing) looks at him and says, “You’re only allowed to take the placement exam one time. Besides, you don’t know your result yet.”

"Yes I do," Tony let’s out an annoyed breath. "I saw the dog and I figured, well, if I put my head below its eye level, it’ll see me as less of a threat.” Tony sits up and jerks the sensors away from his head, scowling. “I grabbed the kid and did it, but then I realized I’d just  _thought_  my way out of danger, but before I could fix it — the simulation ended. So, reset the test. I need another chance.” 

"Why?" the administrator asks.

 _Because,_  Tony can’t say, _I don’t want to be in Erudite anymore._

It must show on his face, though. The man looks… kind, and Tony sort of hates him for it.

"Change the results," Tony says. "You know who my father is. I can… I have access to the main computers in Erudite compound. I could make your life easier, whatever you want —" He stops that line right there, because, duh, Abnegation want nothing. To do so would be selfish.

"If I could," the tester says, "What would you want it to be?"

"I don’t know," Tony lies, though how he wishes he had hugged the dog or something… whatever it was the Abnegation were supposed to do. Offer up his neck to it?

Either way, Tony knows the tester would never actually do it. Abnegation weren’t only selfless, they were incorruptible. So he says, snidely, “Candor?”

The man’s face reflects no humor. That, too, is an Abnegation thing. Well, and a Candor trait. Sarcasm is considered a sort of exaggeration, which the Candor abhor — And ugh, why can’t he just turn off his stupid brain for one moment?

"You know I would never do that," the administrator says, stating the obvious. Then, surprisingly, he lays a hand on Tony’s shoulder and looks him in the eye. "It sounds like you have tested for the Faction that best suits you."

Tony knows that. He’s known it since he was four-years-old and built his first circuit board. He’s scored the top of every intelligence test invented (well, maybe not the emotional maturity exam, but he’s sixteen years old. Who cares?), and  _obliterated_  a bell curve full of obsessively studying Erudite peers. His father is leader of their entire Faction. It’s what he was born for

Reluctantly, Tony reaches in his pocket and pulls out his glasses, pushing them up the bridge of his nose. He doesn’t put them back on. He doesn’t need them to see, but everyone who was anyone wears glasses in Erudite. He hates them.

"Anthony," the administrator says quietly. Tony looks up and he offers a small, sympathetic smile, "No matter what the test says, at the end of the day the choice of Faction is still yours."

 

* * *

 

"What did you get?" Tony asks, the first moment he and Steven were alone.

Steven gives him the same bland look the test administrator did, which is sort of creepy, but to be expected. “You know I can’t tell you that. It’s private.”

"C’mon." Tony wiggles his eyebrows. "I’ll show you mine if you show yours."

Predictably, the tips of Steven’s ears go a little pink. Tony counts it as a win.

"Open your textbook," Steven says. "You should at least pretend to be tutoring me."

That had been the original excuse — the reason they’d really even interacted. Three years ago, if someone had told Tony that he would be friends (might even love) a Stiff, he would have laughed in their face, then rattled off the periodic table of elements just because he could. They were wrong, and he was Erudite through and through.

Well, he still was Erudite down to his toes, but somehow he’d also fallen for caring, selfless, stubborn, hot, Steven. And despite the fact that Steven was the best his faction could offer, everything an Abnegation boy was brought up to be, he had fallen for Tony, too… in his quiet, irritatingly selfless way.

"Why are we bothering?" Tony asks. "Tomorrow we’ll have new factions. New curriculums, new… everything."

"Because today you’re still Erudite, and Erudite study," Steven says patiently.

"And maybe tomorrow I might be, too," Tony says, just to see his reaction.

Sure enough, Steven throws him a swift, searching look. “I thought your you didn’t want to be in a faction under your father—”

"I don’t care," Tony hisses, and daringly, he closes his hand over Steven’s. There’s no one around in this section of the library to see them. "You’re smart, too. Okay, so your math could use some brushing up," he looks at the textbooks, "but your tactic scores are off the chart. Tell me you got Erudite, and I’ll stay. I’ll make my own way, show my father how smart I can be. Or if you got Amity, I can… develop a new strain of crop, or something. I dunno. Dauntless work with the security computers, and you know I’m all about that. And Abnegation—" he smiled, hesitatingly. "I can learn to fit in."

Steven’s face goes slack, but his fingers curl up and around Tony’s, his thumb pressing into his palm. Tony remembers the first time he held hands with him. The first time, a year ago, Steven darted in for a kiss. It wasn’t much — just a peck, and there were better things to come. But Tony’s got a picture perfect memory, and he plays it over and over.

"You aren’t serious, Anthony," Steven says flatly.

"As serious as a Stiff—which, I guess I can’t say anymore, if I’m going to be one of them. One of us? Maybe?" he corrects, searching Steven’s face for a clue. Any hint. "Just tell me you didn’t get Candor, please Steve."

Steven bites his lip, and Tony’s heart picks up pace. “You didn’t—”

"No, not Candor."

He lets out a relieved breath. “Okay, then which one?”

But Steven’s still staring at him. “You can’t pick your faction based on… on…”

"What? You?" He gathers up his courage and smiles. "I told you I planned on marrying you, if you wanted me. We can’t do that in different Factions."

Steven jerks back. His hand unclasps from Tony’s. “Don’t ask me to plan your life — I can’t be that selfish!”

And that gives Tony all the answer he needed. “You got your own Faction.” He’s not surprised. He truly figured either Steven would test for Abnegation the selfless or Amity the peaceful. It was going to be a little bit of a pain in the ass not to be able to look at himself in the mirror every morning (vanity was considered another selfish trait) but maybe Tony could invent an automatic facial hair trimmer or something.

"Tony, no," Steven shakes his head. He looks pale, the same color as his gray tunic. "You would suffer in Abnegation. You… you burn too bright for them. You’d be stifled. God," he runs his hand back through his perfectly parted blond hair. "You’d go crazy in a month."

Tony cocks his head, his quick mind picking up the phrasing. “Them?” he repeats. “So you didn’t get Abnegation?”

Steve presses his lips together, but his blue eyes are bright. Suddenly, he reaches and pulls Tony close, a hand cupping either side of his face. Tony’s too surprised to react — Abnegation weren’t touchy-feely, and they’d never dared to be quite this public. But then Steve’s looking him hard in the eyes. There’s no affection, there, just a hard stubbornness.

"If you love me," he says, "You will choose your Faction for yourself."

"Steve."

"It’s what I want."

"Then we’ll be in different factions," Tony snaps, pulling away. It takes a little more strength than what he’d expected. Steve’s small and wiry, but unexpectedly strong. "We can’t live together, can’t… can’t be together. Faction before Blood, you know that."

Steve looks down. “You can’t be in charge of someone else’s happiness.”

It hurts. It hurt so much. “Is that an Abnegation saying, or are you just breaking up with me?”

In answer, Steve slams his own textbook closed. “I think I’ve said what I needed to.” He gets up, still not looking at Tony, and leaves.

Tony gapes after him, considers following, but what’s the point? He put himself out there, and Steven gave him his answer. He doesn’t want Tony to join his faction with him.

Angrily, he takes his glasses off and rubs at his eyes.

Now what was he supposed to do?

 

* * *

 

The Faction test results are supposed to be kept secret, but his father actually  _looks_ at him as Tony joins his parent’s table for dinner. Howard gives a small, knowing smirk, and if Tony still cared what Howard thought of him, he’d be proud. 

Don’t get Tony wrong — He knows he really does have an Erudite mind. He’s been reading blueprints and technical manuals during his free time since forever. Sometimes he spends nights just designing new things. Inventions. He loves to learn, to create and push himself.

Being smart is what Tony is best at, but he’s not sure it’s all he is. Recently, he has wondered if he can be smart  _and_  argue the minutiae of laws with the Candor, develop better, quicker ways to feed people with the Amity, or improve security and keep people safe with the Dauntless.

The Erudite research for knowledge’s sake alone, and he’s not sure that’s enough for him. He has an Erudite mind, but his soul is something else.

He excuses himself early from dinner, but both his parents are too busy to notice.

Tony stays up, and tries to think of what to do. He makes pro and con lists for every Faction, even (ugh) Candor. But all he can think of is Steven. Of him marrying someone else. Maybe Sharon, that pretty Abnegation girl he’s seen around him. They’ll make adorable blonde babies, and be too damned selfless to fight over whose turn it is to change diapers.

Tony’s heart hurts, like a bruise.

And somehow at three in the morning when the best of his ideas hit, he realizes something. It took every scrap of bravery he had to lower his head to the snarling dog in the simulation. And if he’s being honest, it was pretty damn brave for him to kinda-sorta propose to Steven like that. Even if Steven did throw it back in his face.

And if Tony had to apply his (vast, impressive) intelligence somewhere — if he had a choice between feeding the people of the city, selflessly giving himself to those who need him, deciding their laws, and protecting their lives, Tony knows which he’d rather do.

Besides, it’s a pretty brave thing to go into one Faction when you’ve tested completely and utterly for a different one.

 

* * *

 

Tony stands with the others sixteen-year-olds, staring straight ahead as the government leader of Abnegation gives the yearly speech on the origin and importance of Factions. He doesn’t dare look to the sea of gray tunics to his right.

The names are announced in reverse alphabetical order this year. When Anthony Stark is called, he walks down to the stage, accepts the knife, and slices the heel of his hand. He pauses over the bowls of choosing for one moment, thinking over his decision again. But at the end of the day, he knows this is the right thing to do.

He’s intelligent  _and_  brave. And he’s going to excel in Dauntless, overhaul the aging security systems. His inventions (because who’s going to stop a Dauntless from doing what he wants?) are going to revolutionize the entire city. It’s going to be hard, and he’s gonna have to do it without Steven by his side, but Tony’s smart enough, confident, determined — and yes —-  _brave_  enough to do it.

His blood sizzles over the bowl of coals.

There’s a minor uproar from the Erudite side of the auditorium, but Tony doesn’t care. He takes off his glasses and drops them into his pocket. Soon he’ll be exchanging Erudite blue for Dauntless black, and he’ll never see them again. Never see his father, either, except in official functions. That’s fine by him.

He joins his new Faction, accepts his congratulations as is due, and is sort of numb until Steven is called.

He forces himself to watch the boy in the non-descript gray tunic come down. Steve looks a little nervous, the color high on his cheeks, but his chin is set into resolve. He slices his hand.

And puts it over the bowl with the coals.

 _What_ , Tony thinks numbly as another minor uproar is held. The Dauntless cheer while several Abnegation put their hands to their mouths and utter little sounds of distress. Their golden boy has left them.

Steven casts an almost apologetic glance in his former Faction’s direction. Then he straightens and walks to the Dauntless, proudly, with no Abnegation modesty in his step. He takes off his gray over-tunic, revealing a white t-shirt underneath, balls it up, and tosses it away.

When he joins Tony by his side, his hand finds Tony’s. Steven squeezes his fingers, and Tony squeezes back.

Tony can’t bring himself to ask until later, until they’ve both jumped aboard the moving train that will take them to their new home. His throat has been too choked with guilt, and he didn’t realize until then the enormity of what he had asked Steven to do the other day.

"You didn’t pick Dauntless for me, right?"

Steven grins at him, bright and happy. The wind from the train whips his blond hair all out of order. It’s a good look. “No, I got Dauntless in the examination. I protected a little boy from the dog. You did too?”

"I got Erudite," Tony says. "I picked here because this was where I wanted to be."

Steven looks at him, then laughs. The rest of the new Dauntless are talking excitedly, cheering, calling out to one another, and so their kiss goes unnoticed.

* * *

 

Later, when their new trainer asks for the first volunteer to jump off the side of a building and into a dark pit of nothing below, Steven is the first to step forward. Tony is the second.

"What’s your name, Stiff?" the trainer asks, frowning at Steven’s small stature.

Steven returns the Dauntless’s man’s gaze without fear. “It’s not kind to call someone a Stiff,” he says. “And my name’s Steve now.”

He jumps.

"I’m Tony," Tony says to the trainer, following after. "Don’t worry, you’ll be seeing a lot of me."

And he jumps, too.

~fin~

 


End file.
